All-Star Game planning affected by Phoenix heat

It will be as hot as Phoenix in July when Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is played here next week. But organizers are sure fans will be comfortable.

So long as they don't step outside.

Derrick Hall, president of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are hosting the game at their ballpark, said the plan is to have the five days of festivities take place in artificial environments as much as possible.

"Everything we do is going to be air-conditioned and indoors," Hall said.

Since the opening of the retractable-roof ballpark in 1998, the Diamondbacks' inaugural season, team executives have lobbied MLB to hold its annual exhibition game in Phoenix.

So much so that during the news conference to announce the awarding of the 2011 game, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said he was glad to get the D-Backs' management off his back.

Facing reality

But now that Phoenix actually has the game, there is a reality to face. The city will deal with about 50,000 people pouring into a ballpark on a day that's either unspeakably hot and dry, or unspeakably hot and sticky, possibly punctuated by a monsoon storm or an apocalyptic dust cloud.

Not to mention the events that will lead up to the midsummer classic. There are two more nights of events at Chase Field - a legends game and celebrity softball game on one night, the home-run derby on another. And five days of fans packing into the downtown Phoenix Convention Center for the FanFest, which features interactive games, memorabilia and autograph sessions. Plus, various official and unofficial parties scattered throughout the region.

The average temperature on July 12, the day of the All-Star Game, is 107, according to the National Weather Service. But temperatures have been soaring - Phoenix's official high Saturday was 118 - and there has been a rise in humidity. That will be the uncomfortable reality in Arizona for the foreseeable future, which can be hard to see with sweat in the eyes.

The weather was a point of resistance to MLB awarding the game to Phoenix. But Hall spent years trying to convince baseball executives that Arizona summers were not as bad as they imagined.

"It seemed to me people were fearful of the heat," he said. "We alleviated those fears over time."

Hall also let league officials know that Phoenix becomes sun-averse in the summer.

It won't be as hot indoors in Phoenix, he said, as it was outdoors in other All-Star cities, such as Anaheim or Houston. Hall remembered being in Anaheim last year, watching a concert by the band Train before the home-run derby. It was warm, around 87 degrees, with high humidity and little shade.

Someone made a crack about how much worse it would be at his place. But Hall guaranteed the temperature would be comfortable.

"There's nothing outdoors now," he said.

Major League Baseball planned it that way, said Marla Miller, the senior vice president of special events for the league.

"We're pretty well covered with air-conditioning," she said. "It's not an area where we're spread out like in other markets."

Miller said the All-Star Game is always played in heat. Just not this exact type of heat.

"It's to our benefit of having a July heat where it's a dry heat, than a humid heat like in Houston," she said.

That game, in 2004, had the most humid weather she remembered for an All-Star week. The high was 95 that day as the city suffered from an unusual heat wave.

Of course, the Valley can hit that temperature just after breakfast. Still, Phoenix's possible 110s don't seem to faze Miller.

"We're not concerned with it," she said. The overall plan will be to get tourists to live like Phoenix residents while they're here, going from air-conditioned space to air-conditioned space as quickly as possible.

The pregame party and the gala will be in the southernmost buildings of the Convention Center, across the street from the ballpark.

The main hotels in the downtown area are just a few blocks away. Miller said that Pepsi, one of the game's sponsors, will hand out free bottles of water to fans.

Miller said she visited Phoenix for final planning meetings in early June and walked from the Sheraton hotel, which will be home base for the league's executives, to the ballpark.

"Obviously, you know it's hot," she said, adding that she tried staying in the shade as much as possible.

She didn't say she was comfortable. But she said it was better than when she returned home to New York, which was in the middle of a heat wave.

This time of year, the summer heat does not depend solely on temperature. The All-Star Game falls within monsoon season, which means higher humidity and occasional dust storms. Or, make that, walls of dust that seem to swallow the city whole. Along with strong winds that can gust to damaging levels. And huge downpours punctuated by lightning and thunder.

Meteorologists refer to those as "heat of the day" storms because they hit during the hottest part of the day.

That might not affect a typical Diamondbacks night game, with its regular 6:40 start time. But to appease East Coast viewers, the All-Star Game begins closer to 4:30.

Hall says he is under no delusions about the heat. The team is preparing for the worst.

Open roof possible?

Still, he entertains the idea that maybe, just maybe, the roof might be briefly open at times, like during the home-run derby on July 11, if the temperature allows.

"There's a possibility we'd want to have it open," he said, "But people would still be comfortable."

For typical games, the roof is open if the mercury dips below 100. The stadium's massive air-conditioning units are able to still keep fans cool with the dome open.

There's also the matter of a possible flyover during the national anthem before the All-Star Game itself.

If there is a flyover, "we would want to have it open for that," Hall said. The roof would then close up again for the game. That flyover would take place during the aforementioned hottest part of the day.

It takes 4½ minutes for the retractable roof to close. But it's not known how long it will take to get back to a tolerable temperature again, especially for those in the upper decks, which take the longest to cool. Before regular-season evening games, the roof is closed for hours before fans are let inside, allowing the ballpark to cool.

Then there's the parade. MLB sells the rights to a major sponsor, so it becomes a major event that will go on regardless of the weather.

A parade of pickup trucks and sports cars will take the players into the ballpark. Players will wave at fans lined up on the sidewalk, spreading good cheer and creating a rolling commercial for Chevy Silverados and Camaros.

The parade route here will go about two blocks - along Washington Street from the US Airways Center to Chase Field. Miller said players are being told to ditch suits and ties and dress "smart casual" for the brief ride in the sun. They will be provided umbrellas to shade themselves.

That stretch of Washington is particularly unforgiving for people on foot. There are small trees that offer little shade and no tall buildings offering respite.

Dean Brennan, former principal planner for Phoenix, worries that visitors are going to leave with memories of being uncomfortable.

"What people will remember about downtown Phoenix is when they left their hotel and walked . . . there wasn't much shade and it was hotter than hell getting to the ballpark," said Brennan, who now heads the non-profit Project for Livable Communities.

Brennan said the city could have made it tolerable to walk in downtown, even on summer's worst days.

He pointed to a 2008 planning document the city commissioned and then shelved that called for more trees and canvas shade structures over sidewalks and streets, which could have been removed during winter months.

"I don't know what the disconnect is between having a discussion and then putting it into practice," Brennan said, while taking his own walk from the Sheraton to Chase Field.

Brennan praised the plaza at the west entrance of Chase Field for being shaded.

Before the baseball season began, the Diamondbacks erected a series of steel beams that hold canvas covers and solar panels that power large fans.

Brennan wants that idea spread throughout downtown.

"It really is a no-brainer," he said.

It's too late for such matters, though. The game is nearly here. The tourists and fans will be clogging the streets, trying to find the correct shaded and misted paths between destinations.

Hall, who will be in the thick of activity, is undeterred.

"I think everyone is going to be shocked," he said, "how comfortable it's going to be."